Christian Cannibals Conspiracy Theory

In our final conspiracy theory for the week, I feature early Christian cannibals!

Not really. But partaking in cannibalism and sexual orgies were rumors that Ancient Romans persistently leveled at Christians. The Christians in this second-century Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome were not, in fact, devouring human flesh, but rather the bread in the ritual “agape (not free) love feast”. In fact, although no evidence of actual cannibalism and group sex among early Christians actually exists, we have many sources of early Christians complaining about widespread slander.

For instance, Minucius Felix records one false account, where “an infant covered over with meal, that it may deceive the unwary, is placed before him who is to be stained with their rites: this infant is slain . . . . Thirstily – O horror! – they lick up its blood; eagerly they divide its limbs . . . . “. Athenagoras wrote about the Romans accusing Christians of “Oedipdean intercourse” after the Greek man who inadvertently slept with his own mother.

These conspiratorial rumors make a certain amount of sense — after all, Christians met in the dark (to escape persecution) in mixed company, which was unusual. The ritual of communion is in fact about a human sacrifice (the bread became Jesus’ flesh in a ritual), even though no (other) actual humans were harmed for the ceremony. Most importantly, however, they all typify the way that conspiracy theories are leveled at groups that are a threatening “other,” and they appeal to the emotion of repugnance.

At times, the rumors resulted in the deaths of innocent people, like the Christians of the French towns Lyon and Vienne, who in 177 were executed on charges of sexual immorality and cannibalism.

What stopped these rumors? I think a number of things. The Roman government was generally tolerant of different religious groups (the Imperial persecution of Christians only got going in 255 and was not particularly popular), and emperors generally suppressed mob justice. Importantly, by the early fourth century, the Romans had got themselves a Christian emperor, which made the religion an avenue to power versus something to be shunned.